Lyonnais vs Marseille - Nabil Fekir wants Lyon back to their best for Marseille clash

Posted Sunday, December 17, 2017 by PA

Captain Nabil Fekir hopes Lyon can "get the jump on" rivals Marseille with victory in Sunday evening's Ligue 1 clash.

The teams go into the game third and fourth in the table following Monaco's win on Friday night, with the chance to move level once more with last season's champions with a win.

"I think it's a very important match for us and for Marseille," Fekir told the club's website. "This match is the opportunity to get the jump on a direct rival and that's important.

"OM are a good side that score a lot of goals and are very strong in defence. We need to try and cause them as many problems as possible.

"Psychologically, it will be good to beat them. We know of the rivalry that exists between the two sides and these games are always high intensity. Every player dreams of playing in matches like these."

Lyon's blistering form of October and November, which featured a seven-match stretch in which they won six and drew one while scoring 24 goals without reply, has given way to three defeats in their last five games in all competitions.

Fekir said: "We haven't been at our best in recent weeks. There is a little fatigue, but we will be 100 per cent on Sunday.

"We are playing a lot of matches, and even if the coach is rotating the starting XI, it's hard to be at our best every game."

OM coach Rudi Garcia was reluctant to put any extra emphasis on the match, despite the two teams' rivalry.

"It is a match between (third) and fourth which counts for the same number of points," he told om.net. "It is the 18th match, there will be 20 still to play.

"The attention on the match is because the two teams have the same number of points. Behind PSG, there is (an automatic) place in the Champions League and a place in the play-offs, and OM and Lyon are battling for these places."

Goalkeeper Steve Mandanda was more effusive, but still insisted the game is "not decisive".

"Lyon-OM is always mouth-watering because we go up against a direct adversary each season," he said.

"We are level on points, it will be passionate. The match will not be decisive because there are plenty of games still to come, but it is important to play well on Sunday."

There will be no away fans present at the game after Marseille supporters were banned from travelling due to crowd trouble in recent meetings between the two sides.